Note: Sorry this was so slow to come out. Hopefully the next part will not take so long.
Jack had no idea how long he'd been lying on this bed for. His whole body felt like lead. He had been fading in and out of consciousness for what felt like a while. He was starting to become aware that he had lost all sense of time.
Sometimes he would open his eyes and see daylight streaming in through the window. Other times, it was night, and the room was lit by the candlebra in the corner. But always, he would open his eyes to see a gorgeous young woman stood at his bed. Sometimes it was Rose, sometimes Kelly, occasionally it was some other scantily clad woman.
He wondered if the daylight was part of an intense lucid dream -- one of those dreams where he thinks has has woken up, and goes about his day, only to wake up later in bed. Perhaps it was was morning, and the night-time visitations were the dream? Whoever was stood at his bed would soon make him forget his train of thought.
Either way, Jack was having a great time.
It wasn't just the prostitutes keeping him here. During that post-orgasm trance, he was seeing things, learning things. He was beginning to understand who this "Dark Goddess" was. It wasn't quite accurate, but he could see that it was the best term that Isabelle and her congregation had to describe whatever it was that lay deep beneath the Manor.
Jack would mainly sense this "Goddess" as a presence that arose from the earth, up into the woods, part of the land itself. He wasn't sure, but perhaps this spirit was the land itself?
Sometimes this Goddess would appear as a perversion of the Virgin Mary, using her appearance to manifest and communicate. And it would show him things. Ancient things: old, long forgotten rituals. The charms and spells of previous inhabitants, lost to time. Curious ways to speak with the dead, spirits and demons. The names of other spirits under her dominion.
She was teaching Jack magic.
In his trances he would rise up, out of the building, looking down over the whole area.
There was a chapel, behind which men were digging in the earth with shovels and picks. Many of them wore clothes that were innapropriate for such work, but they dug with a driven look in their eyes. He couldn't see into the tunnel, but he knew that they were digging towards something of vital importance.
There were other men on this floor of the building too. He couldn't tell how many, but they were like him -- strung out on beds, being serviced by a harem of prostitutes, moving between the rooms like bees in a hive.
There was something off about the prostitutes -- their personalities weren't really their own somehow.
While Jack was passed out from orgasmic ecstasy, after being wanked off by the gorgeous Kelly for what felt like the thirtieth time, he rose out of his body and found himself looking down over the whole forest.
Something was happening, just beyond the forest.
Jack sensed others whose attentions had been drawn in the same direction as his. The women in the Manor would stop and look out of the window, as if sensing the same thing he did. The whole forest seemed stop briefly, sensing a disturbance in the force. But only he could see them.
On a nearby hill stood two women: a dark-haired woman in a suit, her hair tied up in a bun. And a blonde woman, younger, slim and attractive, even underneath a dark zip-up hoodie and combat trousers.
The woman in the suit was tracing a labyrinthine design into the earth with a knife. This action alone seemed to cause the woods to stop and take notice.
"Isabelle," Gabriella called out towards the woods. "Remember our bargain. Show yourself."
Gabriella and Francesca stood, waiting for something to happen.
"Are you sure you got the right information?"
"Be patient," said Gabriella. "We wait here until we receive a sign."
"Fine by me. If Celia is okay paying me to do nothing, then I'm happy. I'm just glad for the fresh air."
A flight of birds burst out of the woods beneath them. Pigeons. They flew low over the two of them. Gabriella shielded her eyes and looked in their direction. She gasped.
"I see it! Over there. Look."
Francesca looked.
"Jesus!" she exclaimed. "Where did that come from?"
In the woods down below, a huge stone building could be seen, partially obscured among the trees.
"Is that the Manor?" asked Francesca.
"It must be," said Gabriella, staring down at it.
"So it looks like I do actually have something to do."
"That's right. Head over there, check the place out, see what you can find. Then report back. I'll stay up here, waiting for you."
Francesca took off her fur coat, handing it to Gabriella.
"Fine. Look after this for me will you?"
Francesca wore a dark, zip-up hoodie over a pair of brown combat trousers and goretex boots. Her dagger was sheafed in a special compartment of her trousers.
"Good luck," said Gabriella, reaching for a pair of binoculars out of her backpack and hunkered down to watch, as Francesca jogged towards the woods below.
Francesca moved carefully through the woods, heading in the direction of the Manor. Keeping her eyes focused firmly ahead of her, she couldn't see any human activity, only hearing birdsong.
Eventually the trees thinned out, and Francesca could see the building. It was definitely an old Manor house, and it had seen better days. The house seemed to have caved in on one side, exposing a huge hole in the roof. The windows were empty of glass, revealing only darkness within.
The woods seemed to be reclaiming the building. Vines grew up the walls, and covered what seemed to be some ancient statues dotted around the grounds.
Francesca wanted to get closer and look at the statues, but she kept to the trees. She hunkered down and moved around the perimeter, trying to find signs of life.
The back of the Manor were almost totally covered in vines, climbing into the glassless windows. But Francesca was more interested in the small tents in the distance. These tents were definitely still in use.
As she got closer, she noticed that there didn't seem to be anyone in the tents, but they were pitched to the rear of a smaller stone building situated near the Manor. This building seemed to be clear of vines and in better repair than the rest of the place.
But between the building and the tents seemed to be a small excavation site. Mounds of earth and tools were littered besides what seemed to be a huge hole in the ground.
A figure climbed out of the hole, holding a shovel. A man in a dishevelled suit was holding a shovel, his pale face covered in dirt. Francesca judged that there were stairs beneath. She watched him enter one of the tents.
As Francesca crept closer to the back of the building, hiding behind a corner out of sight of the tents, she wondered if that guy was a hostage turned slave.
She turned to look through one of the ancient, high-arched windows into what may have been a kitchen. There was a stove that could not have existed in a house like this in this or the last century. A wooden table stood in the centre of the room, in front of cupboards and empty shelves on the wall.
Beyond that kitchen she saw nothing but gloom, and heard nothing but birdsong outside. The "worker" outside didn't seem to be doing anything. She raised a leg up onto the windowsill and climbed into the room.
Entering noiselessly, she skirted around the kitchen to what was once a doorway. No door existed there now, but she could peer through into the hallway beyond. All she could see was a deserted hall, long disused oil lamps mounted to the wall.
A loud thud. Francesca backed up against the wall. The noise was followed up by more repetitive knocks, reverberating through the house. It sounded like someone was hammering a nail into a wall. Another worker?
Francesca moved into the hallway, following the noise. She didn't see or hear anyone else, as she came to a doorway in the rear of the house through which sunlight poured out.
Peering around the corner, she noticed a larger room that could have been a dining hall, now empty. Three large windows allowed in the early afternoon sunlight. The floor was covered in a tarpaulin. The walls were bare, with pale rectangles where paintings may have once been.
And stood against the wall, just out of Francesca's view, was a stepladder. A man in overalls was hammering nails into the wall.
Peering to take a closer look, she quickly retreated around the corner. It was counsellor Gregor.
Counsellor Gregor Davidovitch was in this abandoned, magically disguised Manor house, fixing up the walls on his own. Francesca lingered near the doorway.
A second pair of footsteps entered the room. Francesca peered in again. From the doorway opposite, a tall woman in a blue robe entered. Pale yet stately looking, her robe covered everything about her except her face, her blue eyes. Francesca hid again.
"Isabella," Gregor said. "Good afternoon. Have you made progress?"
"Yes," said Isabella. "Everything is going to plan. We still have a few more rooms upstairs to accommodate more guests. Most of the men who show up are only really fit for the tunnels, but there have been a couple who are more useful."
"Good."
"And speaking of the tunnels," said Isabella. "How goes the excavation of the temple?"
"Slowly. None of the men you have picked up know what they're doing. They're a crew of amateurs, figuring it out as they go along. All they have is the will to dig, but not much else going on between their ears. At least nothing useful. Could you at least bring in some men with construction skills? Some archeologists with field experience would be perfect."
"We can't select who comes here," Isabella replied. "Our girls are only taking in whoever they can find on the streets."
"I guess it's a bit much to ask," replied Gregor. "Not to worry. Things are proceeding, albeit slowly. I could do with some help fixing this place up though. Some men with DIY experience would be perfect."
"As I said, we can't select. Have you reached the inner chambers yet?"
"Yes. Just. They cleared out the outer tunnels into the temple. But the temple itself turned out to be bigger than expected. We may have found an old stone altar. Lots of artifacts keep coming up -- chalices, bowls, pendants. It's going to be interesting, sorting through all that stuff when we finish."
"So you have found the temple?" Isabella sounded excited. "Good. Good. We will soon restore the temple. It will be a centre of power, as it once was, millenia ago."
"Of course," replied Gregor. "And my end of the bargain will also be upheld."
"Of course," replied Isabella.
"Right. Well, I should probably get back to work. I need to get back to Plymouth in a few hours."
"I will leave you to your work," said Isabella, before withdrawing back into the doorway through which she entered.
Francesca was making mental notes of this. The temple, the bargain, and the "guests" upstairs. She decided to see what was happening on the first floor.
